A Female PM

[Rorschach]

Given all the women in Parliament, if you had to choose one for PM, who would you choose?
For the sake of this exercise lets assume their party allegiances no longer exist and they don't have to tow the party line.
So we are looking at someone who you think would be the most capable of doing the job properly, without fear or favour.
I have provided a shortlist in the poll.
Feel free to pick any other and provide reasons why.

[Wayne]

A good question, I chose Penny Wong. Australia's PM must possess a wide range of attributes other than what flavour of politics they come from. They need Leadership, Diplomatic Skills, Knowledge of Protocol and a huge swag of others. They are more of a figurehead than anything else - much like our Queen. I have eliminated the Greens because I don't believe they could divorce themselves from their party ideology and the ones listed are way too immature anyway. Tanya P is not a bad choice, but far to 'red orientated'. Bishop (to me anyway) just follows the ideas of everyone else - she is and always will be a yes person - not a strong person by any means. ODwyer is also very immature and too new to politics so she is eliminated. As for Pauline - too honest, naive, trustworthy and open - she would be eaten alive

We also need to look at the partner of the selected person. Rudd, Howard, Keating and Hawke all had strong partners to support them. Abbott's Wife always looked uncomfortable in the spotlight as did Gillards. All we really know about the list is one is married to a once convicted drug dealer who has since reformed and works at a high level in state government, One is a member of a same sex union, One is partnered in a similar way to Gillard, and the rest I am not sure of. Overall though, I would pick Wong

[Rorschach]

Thanks Wayne...
I don't think Lee Rhiannon is immature.... at least not chronologically anyway.

[Outlaw Yogi]

I opposed to this Affirmative Action shit, on the grounds choosing/appointing someone because they are a woman, black, gay, disabled or a spotty Martian results in incompetence, and incompetence leads to corruption because the inept are easily manipulated/blackmailed, and the incompetent tend to be autocratic, desperate to demonstrate their decision making (lack of) skills.

Take our own site's example, where we voted for Super Nova to be mod and now we have an unelected mod (Mantra) who took my 'Scumbag watch II' thread down because it had photos of the culprits and thought "Benny Fables" was a real name. Spoze she thinks Mickey is a real mouse and Donald is a real duck. It's like voting for Kevin Rudd and getting Gillian Triggs instead.

I didn't cast a vote in your poll, but of that list Julie Bishop is the only one I'd think has any competence whatsoever.

[Rorschach]

Well the topic isn't about Affirmitive action, its about female politicians.
So voting for Bishop would have been appropriate for you.

[Outlaw Yogi]

Well the topic isn't about Affirmitive action, its about female politicians.
So voting for Bishop would have been appropriate for you.

Gender (or race) shouldn't matter, merit should be the only factor considered.
You may not have intended the topic to be Affirmative Action related, but subconsciously it is.
You'd probably notice it if someone else posted the same thread/poll with Aboriginal or Gay/Transgender substituted for female . Like it or not it's Identity Politics, and Identity Politics is part and parcel of Affirmative Action. This social programming you may be unaware you're affected by isn't just in politics/govt, the agenda is pushed in almost all aspects of society these days. Just look at the Australian, with its constant support for more female public company board members and/or CEOs.
The so called "conservatives" have adopted one of the left wing's main themes.
If a woman is good enough she'll make it to the top off her own bat. If she's given preferential treatment we wind up with a disaster like Julia Gillard.

[Rorschach]

Yes you are right it shouldn't matter.
It doesn't matter.
The question is about which FEMALE POLLIE you think would make a good PM, nothing more nothing less.

[Neferti]

None of Them ...

[mantra]

It would have to be a toss up between Wong or Plibersek although they're not ideal, but what male politician has anything better to offer?

Bishop is too much of a socialite these days to be of much use to anyone.

[Rorschach]

None of Them ...

Ah Nef do you mean there are no women in Australian politics you think have what it takes to be PM?