[americanophile]

Bye Rudd. Take you’re hair stylist with you...

[skeeter]

And Rudd will be the first Labor prime minister to be dumped by his party before he could complete a term in office.

I am green with envy.

[Vigilanteman]

To educate us Americans on this side of the Pacific, is Gillard the same policies, different package, or does she represent a real improvement over Rudd?

Is your Labour party as thoroughly corrupt and far left as our Democrat Party? There are maybe two dozen Democrats in the House who are genuinely patriotic, less than half the Blue Dogs. How about in Australia?

[dennisw]

Gillard defends childlessness

* From: The Australian
* January 17, 2007 12:00AM

IT would be almost impossible to be a mother and a top-ranking Australian politician, says Julia Gillard.

Ms Gillard, who became Kevin Rudd’s deputy last year after Labor dumped then leader Kim Beazley and deputy Jenny Macklin, also says she is in no hurry to get married or even move in with her partner, hairdresser Tim Mathieson.

In an interview with The Bulletin published today, Ms Gillard defends her decision not to have children, saying John Howard and Peter Costello could never have made it to the top of the political pile had they tried to care for children as well.

“If Peter Costello genuinely thought about it, could he be themother of three children, have been Treasurer for more than a decade and be the next in line to be prime minister?” Ms Gillard says.

“The frank answer is no.”