Petra White wrote this evocative poem, published in The Age on Saturday October 11 A History of the Siege Dark days are here. Nothing can stop them, they crowd like hair around the temples, everyone knows and now we can say, at last, it is dark. On Manus, they are walking along fine edges of themselves, under a borrowed moon, a borrowed sun. Nobody follows them, they would lead only […]
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor is highly regarded by her public – indeed she’s very popular and is referred to as ‘sister, aunt, even mother’. She embodies what the German soul wants now according to Barrie Kosky, the former Australian artistic and theatre director, now based in Berlin. Merkel is a former chemist, he adds, and describes her as ‘boring’, even ‘staid’. Even so, few people dislike her, and even his […]
Borgen is a gripping TV drama series where 40 year-old politician Birgitte Nyborg becomes Denmark’s first female Prime Minister. The production is packed full of political intrigues and deals but it’s the effect that her new powerful position has on her home life and her relationship, that grabs my undivided attention. I bought the box set of the first season and watched an episode every night. In the early scenes, […]
In July 2010, Christine Nixon resigned as chair of Victoria’s Bushfire Recovery and Reconstruction Authority, effectively retiring from public life. But this week the former Victorian chief police commissioner is well and truly back in the media spotlight.
Julia Gillard became our first female Prime Minister barely two months ago and within three weeks announced a federal election. Did her short period in the top job before calling the election contribute to the fall in support for the ALP? Were there lessons to be learnt from the Baroness?
Photo: A gathering of women leaders. It’s official. After weeks and months of deliberating on the date of the next federal election we now know we’re off to the polls on August 21st. But before we cast our vote we need to talk about the appointment of our first female Prime Minister in terms of its symbolism.
The political players are well known but not so widely acknowledged is how they really feel about their parliamentary colleagues. The long drawn out three year electoral cycle is about to end with the federal election now very close. Should the ALP be returned with Julia Gillard as the legitimate elected Prime Minister, Gillard will immediately set about choosing her cabinet. So does she appoint those who helped bring down […]
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