Rudd's Frequent Flyer Points
September 18th 2008 22:47
This time last year things were very, very different down here in the corner of the world. WorkChoices was the buzz-word. Interest rates were rumoured to be on the way up, but in general the economy was strong. The situation in Iraq seemed to be a hopeless shambles. And a young upstart Queenslander was soon to complete his meteoric rise to the top of Australian politics by deposing the eleven year regime of John Winston Howard. Flash-forward to now and look where we are. WorkChoices has been abolished, in name at least if not entirely in the details. The economy is teetering on the brink of falling into the bucket. The situation in Iraq has, against all odds, stabilised and a timetable for withdrawal has been agreed to. And Kevin Rudd is close to finishing his first year as Prime Minister of Australia. It has been almost ten months and the entire political landscape has changed. There is one thing that hasn’t changed, however. It seems Kevin Rudd is having flashbacks to 2006. He still thinks he is Shadow Foreign Minister. Because, yet again, Rudd is off to the airport to go overseas.
We expect our leaders to spend some time overseas, talking with other world leaders face to face. Most people in the political and business world agree that using technology to talk is incredibly convenient but there is nothing quite comparable to being in the same room with someone discussing the issues and coming to agreements. Those kind of meetings help to form personal bonds between world leaders, and gives leaders a way to discuss sensitive topics in an environment that would allow them to read the others body language and prevent misunderstandings that sometimes occur when important issues are discussed through the medium of technology. We can all agree that world leaders jet-setting across the globe to chat with each other is an important part of being the leader of a country such as ours. And when we elected Kevin Rudd, we knew exactly what we were getting. He has been pretty unapologetic about the fact that he is a RAVING internationalist and that discussions with foreign officials is his forte. It is the thing he feels most comfortable doing after years as a diplomat and, subsequently, Shadow Foreign Minister. One of the turning points of the 2007 campaign, and there weren’t many since Howard was running from behind since the beginning, was the scene of Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd meeting China’s Hu Jintao and conversing with him in Mandarin. It was a scene of an Australian leader that can keep up on the international stage and deal with the big players. He was much ridiculed for his ability to speak fluent Chinese, and his tendency to drop into it at every available juncture, but to many people it was a scene depicting a leader that would be able to represent Australia on the world stage.
And represent he has done. In the past 10 months Kevin Rudd has gone on 16 overseas trips, including the one he is taking a break from Parliament from to go to address the UN in New York next week. To begin with, he copped some flak for swanning around the globe and not spending enough time in the country during his first year in Government. The first year is generally considered a time for the new Prime Minister to deliver on year’s worth of promises made from the Opposition bench and to get stuck in to solving the problems left by their predecessors. Kevin Rudd has certainly bucked that trend. But this time the natives are getting restless. The world seems to be going into a tailspin this week. Global financial markets are in crisis, there is a new Opposition Leader, the Government are getting raked over the coals for their treatment of pensioners and Labor are experiencing their first losses of Government since last year’s election. It is not the best time for Rudd to go to address the United Nations about his vision for clean coal initiatives. And I’m sure when he goes to the U.S. President Bush will be quite busy dealing with the oncoming storm of economic recession to be able to have a serious discussion with the Ruddster, so that just means he will have to go back again once the dust settles to forge a bond with the President. A 17th trip in the first year? Surely not.
Obviously we can’t expect our leaders to be kept within the confines of our country for their first year. It isn’t logical in an interdependent and globalised world that is facing such common crises as global warming, terrorism and economic crashes. But we have to right to expect some attention from someone we have put in office. It seems whenever we see Kevin Rudd these days he is doing one of three things. He is going to a sporting event and giving the players a pep talk before they go on the field. He is reacting at a press conference to something someone else has said or done. Or he is overseas, meeting with leaders and walking out of those meetings with no tangible gains. We deserve to have some attention from Kevin Rudd, especially when he campaigned as being such a man of the people.
Maybe the United Nations isn’t the real reason he wants to make his way back to New York City. Maybe, with all the pressures of being Prime Minister, he just wants a trip to the strip club he had so much fun at last time.
We expect our leaders to spend some time overseas, talking with other world leaders face to face. Most people in the political and business world agree that using technology to talk is incredibly convenient but there is nothing quite comparable to being in the same room with someone discussing the issues and coming to agreements. Those kind of meetings help to form personal bonds between world leaders, and gives leaders a way to discuss sensitive topics in an environment that would allow them to read the others body language and prevent misunderstandings that sometimes occur when important issues are discussed through the medium of technology. We can all agree that world leaders jet-setting across the globe to chat with each other is an important part of being the leader of a country such as ours. And when we elected Kevin Rudd, we knew exactly what we were getting. He has been pretty unapologetic about the fact that he is a RAVING internationalist and that discussions with foreign officials is his forte. It is the thing he feels most comfortable doing after years as a diplomat and, subsequently, Shadow Foreign Minister. One of the turning points of the 2007 campaign, and there weren’t many since Howard was running from behind since the beginning, was the scene of Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd meeting China’s Hu Jintao and conversing with him in Mandarin. It was a scene of an Australian leader that can keep up on the international stage and deal with the big players. He was much ridiculed for his ability to speak fluent Chinese, and his tendency to drop into it at every available juncture, but to many people it was a scene depicting a leader that would be able to represent Australia on the world stage.
And represent he has done. In the past 10 months Kevin Rudd has gone on 16 overseas trips, including the one he is taking a break from Parliament from to go to address the UN in New York next week. To begin with, he copped some flak for swanning around the globe and not spending enough time in the country during his first year in Government. The first year is generally considered a time for the new Prime Minister to deliver on year’s worth of promises made from the Opposition bench and to get stuck in to solving the problems left by their predecessors. Kevin Rudd has certainly bucked that trend. But this time the natives are getting restless. The world seems to be going into a tailspin this week. Global financial markets are in crisis, there is a new Opposition Leader, the Government are getting raked over the coals for their treatment of pensioners and Labor are experiencing their first losses of Government since last year’s election. It is not the best time for Rudd to go to address the United Nations about his vision for clean coal initiatives. And I’m sure when he goes to the U.S. President Bush will be quite busy dealing with the oncoming storm of economic recession to be able to have a serious discussion with the Ruddster, so that just means he will have to go back again once the dust settles to forge a bond with the President. A 17th trip in the first year? Surely not.
Obviously we can’t expect our leaders to be kept within the confines of our country for their first year. It isn’t logical in an interdependent and globalised world that is facing such common crises as global warming, terrorism and economic crashes. But we have to right to expect some attention from someone we have put in office. It seems whenever we see Kevin Rudd these days he is doing one of three things. He is going to a sporting event and giving the players a pep talk before they go on the field. He is reacting at a press conference to something someone else has said or done. Or he is overseas, meeting with leaders and walking out of those meetings with no tangible gains. We deserve to have some attention from Kevin Rudd, especially when he campaigned as being such a man of the people.
Maybe the United Nations isn’t the real reason he wants to make his way back to New York City. Maybe, with all the pressures of being Prime Minister, he just wants a trip to the strip club he had so much fun at last time.
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