Former PM demoted to Foreign Minister, former Finance Minister lands good job

Photo taken today in a local car park. A reminder of how things change. Without necessarily remaining quite the same.

Today Prime Minister Gillard announced her new ministry , which includes Mr Rudd as Foreign Minister. I find it odd that the Kevin07 who led Labor to victory and then, in the opinion of the party's backroom people, had to be deposed because he ineptly took his party to the brink of defeat, has been restored to a senior cabinet position, one where the very qualities he was supposed to lack - ability to listen, consult and communicate effectively - must surely be mandatory.

At least the longwinded Mr Oakeshott hasn't accepted the cabinet post he so unwisely angled for and even more unwisely even thought - for several days - about accepting. A letter writer in today's Australian offered this suggestion "stick a wind turbine in front of Rob Oakeshott's mouth. His long-winded responses will secure our power supply for years to come."

And Mr Tanner, who was Finance Minister until a few days ago has wasted no time in securing a very good position in the private sector. This stinks. He should have to wait for at least a year before doing this.

Resolution?

The Independents have spoken (Mr Oakeshott at great length) and we now have a Labor minority government with Julia Gillard confirmed as Prime Minister (and Mr Abbott, despite his disappointment, graciously acknowledging this).

Expert opinion is divided as to whether the government will last a full three year term. Mr Windsor has stated that a major reason for his decision to support the ALP was that he thought a Coalition government would be more inclined to call - and to win - an early election. We can therefore assume that he and his locquacious colleague Mr Oakeshott's survival instincts will prevail. Whether the new regime (or "paradigm")'s conditions such as weekly meetings with the PM will, as the ALP's election campaign mantra put it, enable the country to move forward is another thing.