Gillard cabinet leak damages her rep.

[Sappho]

Veteran journalist Laurie Oakes says a source has told him that Ms Gillard opposed the Government's paid parental leave scheme during Cabinet deliberations last year.

Ms Gillard reportedly told her colleagues, "the idea that the scheme would be a political winner was misconstrued" because "women beyond child-bearing age would resent it, as would stay-at-home mothers".

It has also been reported that Ms Gillard had concerns about the size of the increase given to pensioners at the time.

The source says while Ms Gillard did not oppose the rise, she queried the $14 billion cost, on the grounds that elderly voters did not support Labor.

source

Facing the damaging revelation that she opposed key Labor welfare reforms on political grounds, she asserted that she was merely being tough-minded with public moneys.

Instead of the emerging impression that she is a flinty and ruthless political operator, Gillard sought to create the picture of a rigorous fiscal conservative.
source

[Sappho]

Despite Ms Gillard boasting on the campaign trail about Labor's record on these policies, sources cited in the reports said she actively opposed their introduction during cabinet discussions.

On the issue of raising the old-age pension, Ms Gillard reportedly told her colleagues: "Old people never vote for us." This morning she denied saying this.

"The answer is 'No ,'" she said.

Dumped prime minister Kevin Rudd has denied being the source of the leaks and, while Ms Gillard said she was "curious" about their origin, she was not going to allow them to distract her campaign.

Ms Gillard said there were always two sides to issues facing cabinet - what the government spends and where the money came from.

"I wouldn't have put this country in a position where we increase the pension and then have to increase taxes," she said.

"It's not my way, so I had to satisfy myself that the pension increase was affordable," Ms Gillard said.

"For paid parental leave I needed to do the same."

She said any hesitation in backing the welfare spending was pragmatic.

"You can be passionate about doing something and hard-headed about getting things done," she said.

"Of course I want to support older Australians who find it tough to make ends meet.

"I have devoted my adult life to what I have advocated, to who I am, to the question of equality between men and women in this country. Of course I wanted to see a pension increase.

"Of course, I wanted to see paid parental leave.

"Between the pension rise and paid parental leave, we are talking about expenditure of more than $50 billion over the next 10 years; that's a lot of money.

"And so when these proposals were made, the question at the forefront of my mind was: 'Are they affordable?'
source

[IQSRLOW]

Looks like Labor is having its own internal piss party and the urine is overflowing

This morning she denied saying this.

She also said that she supported Rudd

[Sappho]

When Gillard came into the priministership, one of the biggest concerns upon which she was questioned was her lack of economic savvy... and she responded to this by arguing that she would seek advise from those with economic savvy.

But here she is... still without economic savvy, trying to convince the electorate that her concerns with the paid maternity leave and increased age pension had to do, not with power politicking, but with conservative economic management.

And where was the conservative economic management during the GFC stimulus party?

[Sappho]

Looks like Labor is having its own internal piss party and the urine is overflowing

This morning she denied saying this.

She also said that she supported Rudd

I wonder if it was Krudd who leaked this stuff. Latham is his auto bio said he set Krudd up once telling him that he was going to have some kind of review or some such thing, which Krudd then leaked to the media.

[boxy]

And where was the conservative economic management during the GFC stimulus party?

The stimulus was designed to be a short term spend, and pretty much by definition, wasn't economically conservative, and wouldn't have worked if it had been. Signing the country up to an open ended parental leave scheme, however, needs to be conservative, because it will still be going long after the GFC fades from the memory.

Anyway, it's good to see her come out and say something unscripted, and with little preparation for a change. She does it much better than Mr Abbott, imo.

[Sappho]

And where was the conservative economic management during the GFC stimulus party?

The stimulus was designed to be a short term spend, and pretty much by definition, wasn't economically conservative, and wouldn't have worked if it had been. Signing the country up to an open ended parental leave scheme, however, needs to be conservative, because it will still be going long after the GFC fades from the memory.

There was scope within the stimulus package for conservative spending. You can choose programs that can move quickly into and out of the economy according to the pressures caused by the GFC... but they didn't. You can count your pennies more effectively so that you don't get ripped off... and they didn't.

Anyway, it's good to see her come out and say something unscripted, and with little preparation for a change. She does it much better than Mr Abbott, imo.

Yeah... agreed. But I'm way too bias. I can't stand Abbott period. Nor do I want to vote Liberal.
Was nice to hear some modulation in her voice for a change.

[boxy]

She's been having some speech therapy, I expect, to knock the edge off the Australian Drawl, I expect.

[Sappho]

She's been having some speech therapy, I expect, to knock the edge off the Australian Drawl, I expect.

It's all so terribly artificial. We moderns care more about the surface of the person than we do about the person themselves. We care more about power politicking and catch cries than we do about ideologies.

I think we shall go down as being the 'Shallow Era'.

[Senexx]

Fiscal stimulus was conservative. Ask any economist not from the Austerian school of thought.

As for the leak, assuming the leak is factual - how do we know she was not just playing devil's advocate?

Is there any context given with the leak? No.