The 'BARBIE & KEN SHOW'

[lennie]

Rudd, Gillard to go on tour
Reporter: Michael Brissenden ABC


KERRY O'BRIEN: So, in Canberra, after the bloodletting comes the rebuilding. Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard say they'll embark on a 10-day national tour next week but first they've got a little bit of housekeeping to attend to in Canberra. Mr Rudd has spent his first full day as Labor leader trying to win over the doubters and put his stamp on the final look of his new team. The new frontbench line-up won't be announced until Thursday after a special Caucus meeting, but the new leader is working behind the scenes to make sure it includes the new people he wants. That's a frontbench that will definitely include Peter Garrett and at least two other new faces.

The way Kevin Rudd & Julia Gillard pranced around the media like it was a night out at the grammy's reminded me instantly of dear old 'Barbie & Ken'. I wonder if thats the image they'll portray on their forthcoming 10 day tour. Get some real work done you two!!!

[lennie]

Stylish hair not the way to judge women MPs
By MARIA HAWTHORNE The Border Mail

IN one of his more printable quotations, Mark Latham used to say that politics was showbiz for ugly people.

So perhaps it’s not surprising that three women who have been equally pilloried for their looks as for their policies should have dominated Federal Parliament this week.

From the moment the flame-haired Julia Gillard and her running mate Kevin Rudd toppled Kim Beazley and Jenny Macklin for the Labor leadership on Monday, the new Deputy Opposition Leader was under attack.

Not for her Medicare Gold policy that flopped at the 2004 election, nor her role in deposing a decent, honourable but gaffe-prone man less than a year from the election.

No, it was her new wavy hairstyle and her jacket that attracted the attention.

One newspaper columnist begged her to get a stylist, arguing that if she can’t put an outfit together, how can we trust her to run the country?

It’s an interesting concept.

If Peter Costello needs a haircut, does that mean we can’t trust him to concentrate on the Budget?

One woman who knows all about being judged by her looks is Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone.

The larger-than-life senator from South Australia, who has been on the front bench for the past decade, has heard every crack about her weight, her hair and her clothes going around.

The only thing more predictable than a dig about her looks is the persistent rumour that she is about to dropped from the ministry.

The rumblings resurfaced again this week, but Senator Vanstone has made it clear to Mr Howard and party colleagues that she will not go quietly.

And she defended Gillard, saying that anyone who wants to pick on her over her looks should “get over it”.

“Who cares what her hair looks like? What matters is, is there any substance there, is she a decent person, has she got any brains?” Vanstone says.

“The appearance police have been after me for years, so I’d be the last person to get stuck into Gillard because she’s got a different hairdo.”

Gillard has laughed off the criticisms, saying she does the best with what she’s got.

But by the end of the week, her thunder had been stolen by another redhead.

On Wednesday, the Rudd-Gillard “dream team” was knocked out of television bulletins by news that Pauline Hanson was making a political comeback.

In a reminder of how ugly politics truly can become, Hanson sledged African immigrants as bringing AIDS and tuberculosis into the country.

And she claimed Australians were being turned away from public swimming pools so Muslims could swim alone.

A decade ago, when Hanson made her maiden speech to parliament, Asians were in her sights.

But times — and immigration patterns — have changed and Islam is the new bogy.

Hanson has not had the same voter appeal at any election since 1996 and her chances of being elected to the Senate are not great.

The fact that she was able to take so much attention away from Rudd and Gillard was due in part to the fact that aside from calling for a new style of leadership, the pair have not yet outlined where they plan to take Australia.

In their defence, it is too early to spell out policies when they are still determining how to allocate portfolios to the 32-member Labor frontbench.

That should change next week when they begin a 10-day campaign tour around the country.