Good old Julia

Julia Gillard seems to have her mojo back. The Prime Minister was in her element during United States President Barack Obama’s whirlwind visit to Australia. She was positively beaming in the company of the genial, graceful Obama and the chemistry between the two leaders was obvious for all to see. Both are very tactile, buoyant and a little bit flirty; both have a sense of humour: they were perfect company for each other.

It was not the “real Julia” that we saw with Obama, but the Julia of old. Seeing the two of them together reminded me of the easy-going, knockabout, good-humoured Deputy PM who was sufficiently comfortable in her own skin to be mates with her political rival Tony Abbott. That relationship cooled considerably when Abbott became Opposition Leader on December 1, 2009, and was terminated once and for all when Gillard rolled Kevin Rudd to become Prime Minister on June 24, 2010.

On that historic day Gillard gave a moving, inspirational and flawless speech that was quintessentially Gillard and confirmed the wisdom of replacing the unpopular Rudd who had come to represent the worst of the modern style of insipid, inauthentic, mealy-mouthed politics. And then Gillard became exactly the same kind of politician, standing for nothing, employing the same vacuous language, seemingly beholden to the same focus groups and professional political strategists that had crippled Rudd’s prime ministership.

Last year’s “moving forward” federal election confirmed the worst suspicions that this was no longer “our Julia”. Her subsequent minority government has, like Gillard herself, lacked conviction.

But more recently, there have been clues that Julia Gillard is quietly returning to her form of old. Perhaps those ruinous opinion polls gave her a good shake up.

During the Qantas dispute, Gillard seemed to be in her element. Perhaps it was the familiar territory of industrial relations that brought out the best in her. Even the passage of her controversial carbon tax legislation – despite the indelible stain of the broken election promise it represents – gave Gillard an obvious confidence boost. This was a leader who was in charge again. The plain packaging legislation, her commitment to pay justice for 150,000 community sector workers and her bold decision to sell Australian uranium to India – this is a Prime Minister who is showing signs of returning to her game.

Recent opinion polls – although still showing an easy victory to the Coalition if an election were held now – show Gillard reclaiming voter support from her rock-bottom base.

The Obama visit caps off what has been the most successful spell in Gillard’s troubled prime ministership.

More of the old Gillard – the politician who believed in something, who spoke plainly and acted with conviction – may at the very least make a contest of the next election. Kevin Rudd will not be pleased, but we should be.

Do you agree? Write and tell me your views.

BRW

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