Gillard slipping from her Throne of Blood

Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's more fully realised female characters. Of course, Macbeth becomes king but it is  Lady Macbeth's reckless conspiring that drives him to commit acts of shameful disloyalty. As far Julia Gillard is concerned, she should be aware that the snake is 'scotched but not kill'd.' In other words, Kevin Rudd is badly hurt but he is still alive and capable of striking back. With Labor at a rock bottom low of 28 percent in the polls, Julia is slipping from her Throne of Blood.

I still think that Labor would be insane to replace the Ranga with Kevin. How any  mentally competent person could vote for Rudd is beyond me. At least half the caucus think he is raving  mad. The only real choice is Bob Carr. After a few initial wobbles, he is proving to be a very competent Foreign Minister. He expresses himself well -- he was, after all, a professional journalist -- and he governed New South Wales, Australia's most populous State, for ten years. Carr has been a reluctant leader before. Here, his job would be to 'smooth the dying pillow' as Daisy Bates said of the Aborigines. Labor must not make do with more of the same. They need a circuit breaker. The only person who can fill that role is Bob Carr. The role of the new leader will be to hold some of the 'at risk' marginals. It's inevitable that the ALP will be decimated in the next election. The best they can hope for is to hold the line if some of their better seats. If I was a backbencher, I would be very, very nervous.

Of course, Julia is no stranger to a bit of 'wet work,' as a friend of mine who is a senior public servant puts it. One can well imagine her wandering distractedly through the arid corridors of  new Parliament House, rubbing her hands, dementedly muttering 'Out damned spot,' trying to clean away the blood on her hands from knifing Kevin Rudd.

Julia could well be in some very bad trouble. Whatever you think of Alan Jones, he's got guts, as shown by his interview  with former policeman and radio host Michael Smith on 2GB Talk Back Radio on 20 July, 2012. Smith was sacked by 2UE just before airing a story about Julia's four-year romantic involvement with a dodgy Australian Workers Union (AWU) heavy, Bruce Wilson. 'The Australian's' Glenn Milne was sacked for a similar offense. Wilson's offense was improperly dealing with AWU money.

After the matter first came to public attention in 1995, Gillard told 'The Australian' 'I am still a partner with Slater and Gordon, and I have  no intention of going anywhere.' Soon after that story broke, she was gone, her desk was cleaned out. She has never practiced law since. She was without a job, as I understand it, for six months, until Joan Kirner arranged a role for her as chief of staff with John Brumby. Wilson was never charged.'      

The AWA is the most powerful union in Australia. It is Bill Shorten's union. I am an old AWU man. The AWU is also notoriously corrupt. The AWU, which wanted to be the One Big Union, has the widest coverage of any union in Australia. It has always been on the Right. During Bill Kelty's  wave of union amalgamations in the 1990s, the AWU amalgamated in a shogun marriage with Laurie Short's Federated Ironworkers union. The Ironworkers were a 'clean' union associated with the Groupers in during the ALP Split in the 1950s. .When Gillard's problems with her union  boyfriend arose, elements of the AWU hierarchy campaigned for a Royal Commission. You can imagine how popular that would have been?  It could have dragged up anything. The AWU paid out people who had been stiffed by Gillard's beau. New South Wales Right hard man Laurie Brereton, then minister in charge of industrial relations, didn't see his way clear to recommend a Royal Commission. A very wise move from the ALP's point of view, one would have to say.

Why all this come up now? Maybe it's just because I'm naturally cynical. Rather, I think, it is because I have been around politicians for a very long time. I see a connection between Lady Macbeth sitting uneasily on her Throne of Blood and the ALP's disastrous poll figures. According to Hedley Thomas (Australian, 14 July, 2012) the revival of this 17 year old case 'was seen by Labor figures, the federal opposition and commentators as a deliberate bid to prompt new questions and scrutiny, potentially destabilizing Ms Gillard at a crucial time amid speculation of a comeback by Kevin Rudd.'

Macbeth is notoriously unlucky. It's usually dubbed 'the Scottish play' by superstitious theatrical folk. Kate Mulvaney did a great job as Lady Macbeth with Bell Shakespeare. I can't see any way the Ranga can be saved.. As for the grinning little dolly man who would be our savior, just remember the billions he wasted on bodgy school halls and self igniting insulation. We've had the most favourable terms of trade in 100 years and neither Rudd nor Gillard could get the  Budget out of deficit. Let's bring on Bob Carr.

By the way, 'Throne of Blood' is Akira Kurosawa's movie adaptation of Macbeth to medieval Japan, made more effective by the fact that betraying his lord is was the most heinous crime a samurai could commit. Asked why he looked so terrified in the final scene, leading man Toshira Mifune said 'they were shooting real arrows at me.'