DOCSLIB.ORG

Ejecting the Party Leader: Party Structures and Cultures: the Removal of Kevin Rudd and Non Removal of Gordon Brown

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Ejecting the Party Leader: Party Structures and Cultures: the Removal of Kevin Rudd and Non Removal of Gordon Brown Ejecting the Party Leader: Party Structures and Cultures: The Removal of Kevin Rudd and Non Removal of Gordon Brown Dr Mark Bennister, Canterbury Christ Church University [email protected] Dr Tim Heppell, Leeds University PSA CONFERENCE CARDIFF UNIVERSITY 25 MARCH 2013 DRAFT ONLY – CONTACT AUTHORS FOR PERMISSION TO CITE Abstract This article examines the interaction between the respective party structures of the Australian Labor Party and the British Labour Party as a means of assessing the strategic options facing aspiring challengers for the party leadership. Noting the relative neglect within the scholarly literature on examining forced exits that occur; and attempted forced exits that do not occur, this article takes as its case study the successful forced exit of Kevin Rudd, and the failure to remove Gordon Brown. In doing so the article challenges the prevailing assumption that the likely success of leadership evictions are solely determined by the leadership procedures that parties adopt. Noting the significance of circumstances and party cultures, the article advances two scenarios through which eviction attempts can be understood: first, forced exits triggered through the activation of formal procedures (Rudd); second, attempts to force an exit by informal pressures outside of the formal procedures which are overcome by the incumbent (Brown). Keywords Prime Ministers; Party Leadership; Leadership Elections; Party Organisation; Kevin Rudd; Gordon Brown 1 Introduction In an age of valance, rather than positional politics, party identification and competition is increasingly shaped through electoral judgements about the competence and charisma of party leaders (Clarke, Sanders, Stewart and Whiteley, 2004; Bean and Mughan, 1989; Clarke and Stewart, 1995; King, 2002; Aarts and Blais, 2009). Academics have become increasingly interested in assessing leadership effects, especially as parties have undergone processes of institutional change that have enhanced the dominance of the leader (Evans and Anderson, 2005; Andrews and Jackman, 2008; Heffernan and Webb, 2009, Blondel and Thiebault 2013). One of the most intriguing aspects of organisational change within political parties has been the trend towards democratisation with regard to the selection of the leader. Whilst this should enhance the accountability of the leader to the wider party it has been argued that the process of democratisation diffuses power and makes it harder to hold incumbents to account and makes them more difficult to replace (Mair, 1994; Weller, 2012). This is an argument that has been made most notably about the British Labour Party (see Quinn 2004, 2005, 2012; and Heppell 2010). The dynamics of leadership survival or eviction are considerably different within the Australian Labor Party where such processes of democratisation have not been undertaken (Cross and Blais, 2012; LeDuc 2001; Bynander and t’Hart, 2007; Weller, 2012). The differences between the two parties in terms of their organisational arrangements regarding the party leadership make for an interesting comparison. And for scholars of party organisation it provides a dilemma: how and why was Kevin Rudd removed from the leadership of the Australian Labor Party, and how and why was Gordon Brown not removed from the leadership of the British Labour Party? 2 Of the interaction between the structural apparatus of the institutional arrangements that parties use, and the strategic choices that then face aspiring leaders of the two parties, Weller draws a clear distinction. The dynamics of Australian party politics demand that aspiring leaders have to ‘fight’ – i.e. flexible procedures means that challengers can ‘seize the job by political force’ and ‘eject the incumbent in a direct confrontation’ (Weller, 2012: 154). The strategic options to aspiring Labour party leaders are considerably reduced by the constraining impact of the convoluted Electoral College system that serves to inhibit challengers and protect incumbents. Using Gordon Brown as his primary example (from the period between 1997 and 2007), Weller argues that such leadership aspirants are left to ‘fulminate’. His description of how hypothetical challengers have to wait ‘grumbling, complaining [and] agonising at the unwarranted delay’ would resonate with many New Labour parliamentarians (Weller, 2012: 154). Weller concludes that whilst Australian Prime Ministers (from both Labor and Liberal parties) are ‘dogs on a very short leash’, aspiring Labour Prime Ministers have ‘no opportunity to wield the knife’ (Weller, 2012: 154, 157). Does this claim by Weller explain the differences between Rudd and Brown? Weller, himself, does not address Brown’s survival against this distinction, preferring to focus in on the survival of Blair and the impotence of Brown in the face of the procedural hurdles. This article aims to assess whether structural factors alone explain all, or whether wider circumstances relating to the agency of incumbents, leadership aspirants, and timing in the electoral cycle and governing duration need consideration as well. By doing so, this article adds a comparative slant to the study of 3 party leadership selection from the perspective of leadership survival, which in itself is an underdeveloped aspect of the leadership succession literature. Electing and Ejecting the Party Leader As Weller notes there is ‘an extensive literature on the election of party leaders’ (Weller, 2012: 152). The focus of that literature on leadership successions is dominated by three countries with similar polities – Britain, Australia and Canada, whose ‘governing principles derived from similar constitutional assumptions’ (Weller, 2012: 152; see also Rhodes, Wanna and Weller, 2009; Bennister 2012; Weller, 2013). Most of that literature tends to have a one country focus, but exceptions include Weller, 1983; 1994; Punnett, 1992; Davis, 1998; Bynander and ‘t Hart, 2007; 2008; Kenig, 2009; and Cross and Blais, 2012). However, within the single country focus based literature considerably more has been offered on assessing leadership successions within British political parties. Perhaps stimulated by the dramatic political theatre of the removal from Downing Street of Margaret Thatcher, scholars have developed their work around the following subthemes within leadership successions. First, there is scholarly work that appraises individual contests to examine the quality of candidates and the significance of the campaigning period (Drucker, 1976, 1981, 1984; Denham and O’Hara, 2008; Heppell, 2008, 2010a; 2010b; Alderman and Carter, 1991; 1993; 1995; Alderman, 1996, 1998; Dorey and Denham, 2006; 2011 Wickham-Jones and Jobson, 2010). Second, there is work that seeks to examine the variables that may have influenced voting behaviour at the level of the parliamentary party; with much of that work being focused on the significance of ideology and factions (see Wickham-Jones 1997; Cowley and 4 Garry, 1998; Cowley and Bailey, 2000; Heppell and Hill 2008, 2009, 2010; Heppell Crines and Nicholls, 2010; Heppell and Crines, 2011). Third, there has been a focus on the significance of amending the party leadership selection rules within the respective parties, or the continuing merits or otherwise of existing procedures, with much of this work highlighting the impact of the Electoral College that the Labour Party utilise (Alderman, 1994, 1999; Stark, 1996; McSweeney, 1999; Quinn, 2004; 2005; 2012; Denham, 2010; Wickham-Jones and Jobson, 2011). Fourth, there has been work that analyses the ease, or otherwise, with which incumbents can be removed from the party leadership (Alderman and Smith, 1990; McAnulla, 2009; 2010). What the above appraisal demonstrates is the dominant focus on elections, whether for vacancies (the majority of cases) or challenges which have been successful, the most notable one being that of the removal of Thatcher (Jones 1995). The academic analysis of when party leaders survive, despite considerable questioning of their leadership, can thus be said to be the under-developed aspect of leadership selection studies. The Non Removal of Gordon Brown What made Brown vulnerable to eviction? Some of his critics, such as former minister Charles Clarke and Frank Field, would claim that Brown lacked legitimacy flowing from the way in which he had acquired the Labour Party leadership in May 2007 (Quinn, 2012: 88). Brown had been elected unopposed in what was a coronation rather than a contest, as his only possible rival for the leadership, John McDonnell failed to secure the requisite number of parliamentary backers to initiate the Electoral College. However, as Brown defeated McDonnell by 313 to 29 nominations (McDonnell needed 44 to pass the nomination threshold or 12.5 percent of the PLP), the argument that he lacked legitimacy at PLP level is erroneous (Heppell, 2010: 187). What made Brown vulnerable was necessarily the method of 5 acquisition and his legitimacy to lead the party. His legitimacy only came into question as his authority was undermined by his lamentable performance as Prime Minister (Foley, 2009; Theakston, 2011). That Brown had so ‘desperately’ wanted to be Prime Minister, and had plotted so ‘meticulously’ and ‘ruthlessly’, it was therefore a great surprise and disappointment that he once there he had ‘no vision [and] no strategy’ (Watt, 2010: 7-8). There had been an expectation that he would have a clear political programme to implement (Foley, 2009: 502). It is justifiable, however, to argue that his circumstances
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A History of Misconduct: the Case for a Federal Icac
    MISCONDUCT IN POLITICS A HISTORY OF MISCONDUCT: THE CASE FOR A FEDERAL ICAC INDEPENDENT JO URNALISTS MICH AEL WES T A ND CALLUM F OOTE, COMMISSIONED B Y G ETUP 1 MISCONDUCT IN POLITICS MISCONDUCT IN RESOURCES, WATER AND LAND MANAGEMENT Page 5 MISCONDUCT RELATED TO UNDISCLOSED CONFLICTS OF INTEREST Page 8 POTENTIAL MISCONDUCT IN LOBBYING MISCONDUCT ACTIVITIES RELATED TO Page 11 INAPPROPRIATE USE OF TRANSPORT Page 13 POLITICAL DONATION SCANDALS Page 14 FOREIGN INFLUENCE ON THE POLITICAL PROCESS Page 16 ALLEGEDLY FRAUDULENT PRACTICES Page 17 CURRENT CORRUPTION WATCHDOG PROPOSALS Page 20 2 MISCONDUCT IN POLITICS FOREWORD: Trust in government has never been so low. This crisis in public confidence is driven by the widespread perception that politics is corrupt and politicians and public servants have failed to be held accountable. This report identifies the political scandals of the and other misuse of public money involving last six years and the failure of our elected leaders government grants. At the direction of a minister, to properly investigate this misconduct. public money was targeted at voters in marginal electorates just before a Federal Election, In 1984, customs officers discovered a teddy bear potentially affecting the course of government in in the luggage of Federal Government minister Australia. Mick Young and his wife. It had not been declared on the Minister’s customs declaration. Young This cheating on an industrial scale reflects a stepped aside as a minister while an investigation political culture which is evolving dangerously. into the “Paddington Bear Affair” took place. The weapons of the state are deployed against journalists reporting on politics, and whistleblowers That was during the prime ministership of Bob in the public service - while at the same time we Hawke.
    [Show full text]
  • Australia Is Awash with Political Memoir, but Only Some Will Survive the Flood
    Australia is awash with political memoir, but only some will survive the... https://theconversation.com/australia-is-awash-with-political-memoir-b... Academic rigour, journalistic flair September 9, 2015 8.51am AEST For publishers, Australian political memoir or biography is likely to pay its own way, at the very least. AAP Image/Lukas Coch September 9, 2015 8.51am AEST Last year more than a dozen political memoirs were published in Australia. From Bob Author Carr’s Diary of a Foreign Minister to Greg Combet’s The Fights of My Life, from Rob Oakeshott’s The Independent Member for Lyne to Bob Brown’s Optimism, one could be forgiven for thinking Australia is a nation of political junkies. Jane Messer Or that we’re fascinated by the personalities, policies and procedures that shape our Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, political landscape. But are we really, and if not, why so many books? Macquarie University The deluge shows no signs of abating, with a similar number of titles expected this year. Already we’ve seen the release of Shadow Minister Chris Bowen’s The Money Men, reflections by Federal Labor members Mark Butler and Andrew Leigh, with former Victorian Labor leader John Brumby’s practical “lessons”, The Long Haul, in press. Liberals, once laggards in this genre, are stepping up in growing numbers. Federal Minister Christopher Pyne’s “hilarious” A Letter To My Children is out, and Peter Reith’s The Reith Papers is underway. Also in press is the genuinely unauthorised Born to Rule: the Unauthorised Biography of Malcolm Turnbull.
    [Show full text]
  • Strategy-To-Win-An-Election-Lessons
    WINNING ELECTIONS: LESSONS FROM THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY 1983-1996 i The Institute of International Studies (IIS), Department of International Relations, Universitas Gadjah Mada, is a research institution focused on the study on phenomenon in international relations, whether on theoretical or practical level. The study is based on the researches oriented to problem solving, with innovative and collaborative organization, by involving researcher resources with reliable capacity and tight society social network. As its commitments toward just, peace and civility values through actions, reflections and emancipations. In order to design a more specific and on target activity, The Institute developed four core research clusters on Globalization and Cities Development, Peace Building and Radical Violence, Humanitarian Action and Diplomacy and Foreign Policy. This institute also encourages a holistic study which is based on contempo- rary internationalSTRATEGY relations study scope TO and WIN approach. AN ELECTION: ii WINNING ELECTIONS: LESSONS FROM THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY 1983-1996 By Dafri Agussalim INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS UNIVERSITAS GADJAH MADA iii WINNING ELECTIONS: LESSONS FROM THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY 1983-1996 Penulis: Dafri Agussalim Copyright© 2011, Dafri Agussalim Cover diolah dari: www.biogenidec.com dan http:www.foto.detik.com Diterbitkan oleh Institute of International Studies Jurusan Ilmu Hubungan Internasional, Fakultas Ilmu Sosial dan Ilmu Politik Universitas Gadjah Mada Cetakan I: 2011 x + 244 hlm; 14 cm x 21 cm ISBN: 978-602-99702-7-2 Fisipol UGM Gedung Bulaksumur Sayap Utara Lt. 1 Jl. Sosio-Justisia, Bulaksumur, Yogyakarta 55281 Telp: 0274 563362 ext 115 Fax.0274 563362 ext.116 Website: http://www.iis-ugm.org E-mail: [email protected] iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book is a revised version of my Master of Arts (MA) thesis, which was written between 1994-1995 in the Australian National University, Canberra Australia.
    [Show full text]
  • David Miliband President International Rescue & Co-Chairman Global Ocean Commission
    David Miliband President International Rescue & Co-Chairman Global Ocean Commission David Miliband is President and Chief Executive of International Rescue Committee (IRC), the renowned New team of over 12,000 people. The IRC helps people all over the world whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by learning and economic support to people in 40 countries, with many special programs designed for women and children. Every year, the IRC resettles thousands of refugees in 22 U.S. cities. David was the UK’s Foreign Secretary from 2007-10. Aged 41, he became the youngest person in 30 years to hold the position. He was responsible for a global network of 16,000 diplomats in over 160 countries. He established a distinctive and respected voice for an internationalist Britain, from the war in Afghanistan to the Iranian nuclear programme to engagement with the world’s emerging powers. David’s advocacy of a global role for a strong European foreign policy led to him being widely supported for the new job of EU High Representative for Foreign Aairs – a position he declined to continue his work in Britain. 1994 to 2001, authoring the manifestos on which Labour was elected to oce. As Minister for Schools from 2002 to 2004 he was regarded as a leader of reform. As Secretary of State for the Environment, he pioneered the championed the renaissance of Britain’s great cities. David set up "Movement for Change", which is training 10,000 community organisers in the UK to make changes in their own communities. He was also Vice Chairman of Sunderland Football Club until 2013.
    [Show full text]
  • P5048b-5048B Hon Darren West
    Extract from Hansard [COUNCIL — Wednesday, 22 August 2018] p5048b-5048b Hon Darren West FEDERAL COALITION GOVERNMENT Statement HON DARREN WEST (Agricultural — Parliamentary Secretary) [6.46 pm]: I note that other members also wish to make a member’s statement, so I will be brief. Hon Simon O’Brien has given me a couple of good segues for my statement tonight. I believe that there will be a special meeting, and votes will be counted, and at the end of that we could have a new Prime Minister of Australia. This has been an extraordinary week in Canberra. For those of us who take a particular interest in political happenings in our national capital, I guess we could say we have seen it all before. However, this time I think there is an extra level of division and dysfunction than what we have seen in governments previous. It is extraordinary that there is potential for a second leadership spill in two days in the Liberal Party in Canberra to determine who will be this country’s next Prime Minister. This seems to be spreading from the Western Australian branch of the Liberal Party, although there is not a formal coalition in Western Australia, to its federal counterparts. It is extraordinary. I believe there will be a leadership spill in Canberra. There probably should also be a leadership spill in Western Australia, if anyone had the courage to challenge the current Leader of the Liberal Party. I am sure that will happen in due course, members. There is also potential for a change of leadership in the federal National Party in the coming days as the dysfunction spreads throughout the federal government.
    [Show full text]
  • Making a Hasty Brexit? Ministerial Turnover and Its Implications
    Making a Hasty Brexit? Ministerial Turnover and Its Implications Jessica R. Adolino, Ph. D. Professor of Political Science James Madison University Draft prepared for presentation at the European Studies Association Annual Meeting May 9-12, 2019, Denver, Colorado Please do not cite or distribute without author’s permission. By almost any measure, since the immediate aftermath of the June 16, 2016 Brexit referendum, the British government has been in a state of chaos. The turmoil began with then- Prime Minister David Cameron’s resignation on June 17 and succession by Theresa May within days of the vote. Subsequently, May’s decision to call a snap election in 2017 and the resulting loss of the Conservatives’ parliamentary majority cast doubt on her leadership and further stirred up dissension in her party’s ranks. Perhaps more telling, and the subject of this paper, is the unprecedented number of ministers1—from both senior and junior ranks—that quit the May government over Brexit-related policy disagreements2. Between June 12, 2017 and April 3, 2019, the government witnessed 45 resignations, with high-profile secretaries of state and departmental ministers stepping down to return to the backbenches. Of these, 34 members of her government, including 9 serving in the Cabinet, departed over issues with some aspect of Brexit, ranging from dissatisfaction with the Prime Minister’s Withdrawal Agreement, to disagreements about the proper role of Parliament, to questions about the legitimacy of the entire Brexit process. All told, Theresa May lost more ministers, and at a more rapid pace, than any other prime minister in modern times.
    [Show full text]
  • Board-Packet-092718.Pdf
    HĀLĀWAI PAPA ALAKAʻI KŪMAU KEʻENA KULEANA HOʻOKIPA O HAWAIʻI REGULAR BOARD MEETING HAWAI‘I TOURISM AUTHORITY Poʻahā, 27 Kepakemapa 2018, 9:30 a.m. Thursday, September 27, 2018 at 9:30 a.m. Kikowaena Hālāwai O Hawaiʻi Hawai‘i Convention Center Lumi Papa Hoʻokō A Executive Board Room A 1801 Alaākea Kalākaua 1801 Kalākaua Avenue Honolulu, Hawaiʻi 96815 Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96815 Papa Kumumanaʻo AGENDA 1. Ho‘omaka A Pule Call to Order and Pule 2. ʻĀpono I Ka Moʻoʻōlelo Hālāwai Approval of Minutes of the August 30, 2018 Board Meeting 3. Hō‘ike Lālā Report of Permitted Interactions at an Informational Meeting or Presentation Not Organized by the Board Under HRS section 92-2.5(c) 4. Mana‘o O Ka Luna Hoʻokele No Ka Hoʻokō Papahana HTA Ma ʻAukake 2018 Report of the CEO Relating to Staff’s Implementation of HTA’s Programs During August 2018 5. Hōʻike Na Meia Kirk Caldwell Presentation by Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell Regarding the 2019 U.S. Conference of Mayors in Honolulu, June 28, 2019 – July 1, 2019 6. Hōʻike Na Ke Komikina Lula Maikaʻi O Ka Mokuʻāina Presentation by the Hawai‘i State Ethics Commission Regarding an Overview of the State Ethics Code for State Board Members 7. Hō‘ike ‘Ikepili Noi‘i ‘Oihana Ho‘omāka‘ika‘i Presentation and Discussion of Current Market Insights and Conditions in Key Major Hawai‘i Tourism Markets 8. Hōʻike, Kūkākūkā a Hoʻoholo No Nā Moʻokālā Presentation, Discussion and Action on HTA’s Financial Reports for April-June 2018 and July and August 2018 9.
    [Show full text]
  • November 26, 2020 Kelly Greene, MLA Parliamentary Secretary for Environment Parliament Buildings Victoria, British Columbia
    November 26, 2020 Kelly Greene, MLA Parliamentary Secretary for Environment Parliament Buildings Victoria, British Columbia V8V 1X4 Dear Parliamentary Secretary Greene: Thank you for agreeing to serve British Columbians as Parliamentary Secretary for Environment, supporting the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. You are taking on this responsibility at a time when people in our province face significant challenges as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has turned the lives of British Columbians upside down. None of us expected to face the challenges of the past number of months, yet British Columbians have demonstrated incredible resilience, time and time again. We will get through the pandemic and its aftereffects by building on this resilience and focusing on what matters most to people. British Columbians voted for a government focused on their priorities: fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, providing better health care for people and families, delivering affordability and security in our communities, and investing in good jobs and livelihoods in a clean-energy future. I expect you – and the work of your ministry – to focus on the commitments detailed in our platform, Working for You, along with the following foundational principles: ● Putting people first: Since 2017, our government has focused on making decisions to meet people's needs. That focus drove our work in our first term and will continue to be our priority. British Columbians are counting on the government to keep them safe and to build an economic recovery that works for everyone, not just those at the top. Keeping people at the centre of everything we do means protecting and enhancing the public services people rely on and working to make life more affordable for everyone.
    [Show full text]
  • Reference Serv1ce
    Reference BRITISH INFORMATION • SERVICES Biog(aphy • L-------------------~ Serv1ce THE RT HON JAMES CALLAGHAN. MP PRIME MINISTER AND FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY Mr James Callaghan was appointed Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury on Monday 5 April 1976, following his election as Leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party and the resignation of Mr Harold Wilson as Prime Minister earlier that day. Prior to becoming Prime Minister Mr Callaghan had, since the return to office of the Labour Party in March 1974, served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. Mr Callaghan is Member of Parliament for Cardiff South East. James Callaghan was born in 1912, son of a Chief Petty Officer in the Royal Navy. He was educated at an elementary school and at the Portsmouth Northern Grammar School. In 1929 he entered the Civil Service as a Tax Officer in the Inland Revenue Department. He joined the Inland Revenue Staff Federation, became a branch secretary and sat on its Execu· tive, and in 1936 resigned his Civil Service appointment to become its Assistant Secretary- a post he held until 1947. He also lectured on industrial history for the Workers' Educational Association. In 1942 Mr Callaghan volunteered and joined the Royal Navy as an Ordinary Seaman. I Later he was commissioned as a Lieutenant, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, and served with the East Indies Fleet, then stationed at Ceylon. He also served at the Admiralty. He had joined the Labour Party in 1931, and in 1944 was adopted as prospective Labour candidate for Cardiff South, for which he was elected to Parliament in 1945.
    [Show full text]
  • Research Note: Former Special Advisers in Cabinet, 1979-2013
    Research Note: Former Special Advisers in Cabinet, 1979-2013 Executive Summary Sixteen special advisers have gone on to become Cabinet Ministers. This means that of the 492 special advisers listed in the Constitution Unit database in the period 1979-2010, only 3% entered Cabinet. Seven Conservative party Cabinet members were formerly special advisers. o Four Conservative special advisers went on to become Cabinet Ministers in the 1979-1997 period of Conservative governments. o Three former Conservative special advisers currently sit in the Coalition Cabinet: David Cameron, George Osborne and Jonathan Hill. Eight Labour Cabinet members between 1997-2010 were former special advisers. o Five of the eight former special advisers brought into the Labour Cabinet between 1997-2010 had been special advisers to Tony Blair or Gordon Brown. o Jack Straw entered Cabinet in 1997 having been a special adviser before 1979. One Liberal Democrat Cabinet member, Vince Cable, was previously a special adviser to a Labour minister. The Coalition Cabinet of January 2013 currently has four members who were once special advisers. o Also attending Cabinet meetings is another former special adviser: Oliver Letwin as Minister of State for Policy. There are traditionally 21 or 22 Ministers who sit in Cabinet. Unsurprisingly, the number and proportion of Cabinet Ministers who were previously special advisers generally increases the longer governments go on. The number of Cabinet Ministers who were formerly special advisers was greatest at the end of the Labour administration (1997-2010) when seven of the Cabinet Ministers were former special advisers. The proportion of Cabinet made up of former special advisers was greatest in Gordon Brown’s Cabinet when almost one-third (30.5%) of the Cabinet were former special advisers.
    [Show full text]
  • ANZSOG Case Program Universal Preschool: the Rocky Path to Policy Change 2016-176.1
    ANZSOG Case Program Universal preschool: the rocky path to policy change 2016-176.1 For Wendy Jarvie and her team at the Department of Education, Australia’s change of government on 24 November 2007 was momentous. The incoming Rudd government’s ‘Education Revolution’ included a commitment to fund universal access to preschool education for the nation’s four year olds. Jarvie’s research team had watched the international evidence building about the importance of preschool for future literacy and learning. At the same time they had seen preschool enrolments falling, and Australia’s international student assessment rankings also declining. For three decades, both Coalition and Labor governments had concentrated on opening up the child care market, leaving preschool1 programs to the states and territories. At last, the team believed, there might be a path for repositioning preschool and reasserting a central role for the Commonwealth government. A session of preschool or a day in child care? Preschool, defined as a structured play-based learning program delivered by a degree-qualified teacher, is aimed principally at children in the year before they begin full-time schooling. While free or part-funded depending on the jurisdiction, it is usually offered only as part-time sessions. For working parents, child care offered the advantage of being available for a full day, and from a baby’s first weeks of life. However, in 2007 there were no national standards for preschool (wherever it was offered) in terms of teacher qualifications or curriculum, and preschool (often called ‘early learning’) was often delivered in child care centres without a formal curriculum or qualified teacher.
    [Show full text]
  • DPM Teo Calls on Australian Prime Minister
    DPM Teo Calls on Australian Prime Minister 23 Nov 2010 Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean calling on Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard at the Australian Parliament House. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean called on Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Canberra today. Both parties reaffirmed the close and broad-based bilateral relations between the two countries, of which the strong and long-standing defence ties are a key pillar. Their meeting also reinforced the political support from both countries for the extensive interactions and cooperation between both armed forces, including the ongoing cooperation in the multinational reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. During his working visit to Australia, Mr Teo also met with Defence Minister Stephen Smith, Minister for Foreign Affairs Kevin Rudd, Senator John Faulkner, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, Shadow Minister for Defence David Johnston, Special Minister of State for the Public Service and Integrity Gary Gray, Minister for Indigenous Employment and Economic Development, Minister for Sport, and Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness Honourable Mark Arbib and Chief Government Whip Joel Fitzgibbon. At a joint press conference with Mr Smith yesterday, Mr Teo reiterated Singapore's appreciation of the strong and extensive defence relationship between Singapore and Australia. "We are very grateful for the opportunities that Australia has provided for Singapore to train here in Australia. It 1 has been a great help to us, our training in Shoalwater Bay as well as our flight training in Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Pearce in Perth. I have just visited both places and it is going very well, and we are very grateful for the cooperation," said Mr Teo.
    [Show full text]