When all is lost, Labor gives the top job to a woman
Why does the Australian Labor Party insist on putting women in the death seat, not the box seat? The ALP has a history of turning to women when one of its governments is heading for electoral defeat.
Who could forget the premierships of Carmen Lawrence in WA and Joan Kirner in Victoria? Labor has form. Julia Gillard, be very afraid.
Decades of Labor`s meticulous polling would have shown that each of those governments was finished, destroyed by incompetence and/or the stench of corruption. Keneally`s chances in 2011 are equally remote. So, other than being able to claim each of these appointments as firsts for the women history books, why does Labor appoint a woman only when they know all is lost?
There is some evidence to suggest women MPs are more trusted than men and have a greater chance of getting away with fudged figures and dubious policy decisions. It could be the Madonna Thing - in which case expect to see a great deal more of Keneally La Mama over the next year or so.
It cannot be experience. Keneally was a more practised parliamentarian than Nathan Rees when he was offered the job by the same kingmakers who have now decided it is her turn.
What`s more, she was in the right faction, making their preference for Rees harder to explain. She is ambitious - but that hasn`t changed on a year ago either.
Why did the machine prefer an inexperienced bloke from the wrong faction over her 15 months ago and now, when it is too late to win, given a woman ("girl" in some circles) the job?
Go figure.
Rees made it clear that whoever took over from him would be the puppet of Joe Tripodi and Eddie Obeid. Keneally insists she is no one`s puppet and if we were to believe her that can`t be the reason she was chosen.
So it could be that the same Labor powerbrokers who have given us four premiers in four years have decided a fall girl is better than a fall guy. History shows us Labor`s puppeteers almost only promote women to the leadership when they know defeat is looming.
Perhaps a woman`s defeat is less important in the ALP. Lawrence and Kirner have forever been defined by their failures. Meanwhile their male predecessors left politics with their dignity and reputations intact. In fact WA`s Peter Dowding was made an SC and given a Centenary Medal despite the Rothwell scandals. Maybe Labor figured she would get an easier time from her male opponents and even our brutal shock jocks; now that is old fashioned.
The image of Keneally as a puppet of two male overlords, a woman who dares not cross them, is not lost on voters.
Pru Goward is shadow minister for community services and women
