The Land Down Under

The Australian Labor Party is having a meltdown:

Prime Minister Julia Gillard will today announce that she is calling a ballot to resolve the Labor leadership stoush with her predecessor Kevin Rudd.

Ms Gillard will hold a morning press conference in Adelaide to call a caucus ballot for Monday when Parliament resumes.

Overnight she criticised Mr Rudd over his sudden resignation as Foreign Minister, saying she was “disappointed” he did not speak to her before his announcement.

For those who don’t follow this soap opera – Kevin Rudd was the leader of the Labor Party who was pushed out by the Julia Gillard faction within the party, and he has apparently decided to get his old job as prime minister back.

The two are opposites – Rudd is good at public performances, but a PITA on a personal level as a leader, while Gillard is good on a personal level but a disaster before a larger audience. The tension between they two has been a mess, and risks the chances of the Labor Party staying in power.

Waiting in the wings is Tony Abbott, who leads the conservative Liberal Party [no one said this was going to be easy]. Tony would be right at home with the current candidates for the Republican Party for President. He can be as dumb as Rick Perry, as religious as Santorum, as far out as Ron Paul, and as slippery as Romney.

[a ‘Spill’ is a party leadership vote, and a ‘Stoush’ is a fight]

There is some good news from Australia: a new species has been found. OK, so it’s a sea snake, and being OZ it is naturally as venomous as can be, but it is a new species. Ms Gillard would probably want it named after Kevin Rudd. 😉