TLIAD - Advance Australia Where?
- Thread starter Thunderbolt
- Start date
You bastard, first Gough the ineffectual and now Keating the monarchist... I doff my metaphorical hat.
The Breath Of Fresh Air
May 1 1997 to December 3 2004
Anthony John “Tony” Abbott (b. 1957) worked for a time as a journalist at The Australian when he decided it was better to be working for the movers and shakers in Canberra than simply interviewing them. Under the tutelage of then-opposition leader John Hewson, Abbott was his Chief of Staff for the 1990 election, and then began to look for a seat of his own.
First elected to parliament in 1993, he quickly advanced through the ranks of the party and had become shadow minister for finance by 1995. He was clearly a man in a hurry, and this was highlighted no better in the space of two months in 1997.
Alex Downer had lead the Coalition to defeat in early 1996. His father, Sir Alexander, was a former minister in the Menzies and McEwen cabinets, and his grandfather, Sir John, was a former premier and senator for South Australia. Although Downer was a blue ribbon Liberal, and opposed against one of the great obstructionist prime ministers Australia had known, the election defeat had stained him permanently as a loser. Abbott organised a sudden leadership challenge against Downer; the ballot was not so much a rejection of the past but a hopeful embrace of the future.
The future, as it turns out, was soon to follow. Upon hearing Abbott was the new opposition leader, Paul Keating suddenly called a snap election – more than two years before one was due – expecting to further entrench the Labor advantage over what until then had been an ineffectual opposition. But from the moment that Abbott stepped up to the microphone and declared himself a new leader for new times, Keating was gone. The Coalition won the election on a 20 seat swing.
Abbott took office on the same day that another relatively youthful prime minister was being elected – Tony Blair of the United Kingdom. His first act was to once again abolish the British honours and restore the Australian honours system first implemented by John Gorton.
Although personally opposed to the concept of a republic, Abbott won widespread respect for his dignified manner in allowing the debate for an Australian republic to progress. Declaring he was a democrat above anything else, he legislated for a two-step referendum on the republic to progress. The first vote, held on March 27 1999, showed overwhelming support for a directly-elected ceremonial president, as opposed to a president elected by a parliament, which were the only two options recommended to the Prime Minister by Peter Costello, the chair of the Australian Republican Movement.
The second and critical vote on November 27 1999 saw the concept of a directly-elected ceremonial president put against the status quo in a binding decision. The concept failed to pass the required threshold, receiving 49.84% of the vote but passing in just two states. This fell short of the requirements of 50.01% and four states, and the republic issue was settled. Abbott stayed above the fray during the two referendums, leaving the fight to John Gorton and Paul Keating and their respective camps.
Abbott was widely respected for his many charitable acts while in office, many of which were seemingly spontaneously performed without seeking attention through the media. He made a point of sleeping out with the homeless in Canberra once each year – an act which was abruptly stopped after the events of September 11 – and it wasn’t uncommon for him to be riding at the back of some charity ride, without minders or handlers to take care of him. He would also help at the tuckshop of his daughters’ school whenever his parliamentary schedule allowed, where he would insist that the awestruck students call him Tony rather than Mr Prime Minister.
Abbott personally led the delegation of the Sydney 2008 bid team in their final presentation to the International Olympic Committee in Moscow. Sydney defeated Toronto on the final ballot in a major upset, 59 votes to 57.
In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Abbott expressed solidarity and sympathy on behalf of the Australian people, but refused to commit troops to an invasion force of Afghanistan until the Australian people had had their say at the ballot box. The verdict they returned was a mixed one, with the first hung parliament since 1940 elected.
Abbott was able to survive in office in part to guarantees to three country independents, as well as an alliance with the Greens in the Senate. The pledges made to the independents included the heavy investment in highways, communications, education and health in rural areas, which had been heavily neglected during the Keating years. To satisfy the Greens, Australia would sign the Kyoto protocol, introduce effective environmental monitoring controls, and place tighter regulations on the exploration and mining of coal. On more than one occasion, Abbott was also able to survive in office due to the cooperation of the opposition leader, who properly decided that Labor would not take back office by stealth, but respect the verdict of the electorate, however muddled it was.
Abbott did hasten his own demise somewhat when – what could only be described as a fit of insanity – he decided to submit the name of Alex Downer to parliament for approval as governor-general, despite being able to make the appointment off his own initiative. It was an unfortunate political misstep by Abbott; Downer was qualified to perform the role, and would have been far from the first party-political appointment (Former Liberal minister Donald Chipp had been appointed by Gorton in 1982). The opposition parties protested at Abbott’s decision to interfere with over one hundred years of precedent when appointing the vice regal. Downer gracefully withdrew his name from the process, and Abbott saved significant face by appointing Pat O’Shane as the first indigenous and first female governor-general.
It was an inglorious end to what had been an effective ministry, and rather shambolic, which was rather unlike Abbott’s style. He stayed on in parliament, defying expectations that he would retire. "If Gorton can stay on into his seventies," reflected the 47-year old former Prime Minister, "then so can I."
The First Lady
December 3 2004 to October 4 2011
Julia Eileen Gillard (b. 1961) made history in 2004 as the first woman to be elected Prime Minister in Australian history. Elected to parliament in 1996, she was briefly parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister before witnessing first-hand the events that led to the election of Tony Abbott, following Paul Keating into Yarralumla House as he demanded the Governor-General dissolve the House of Representatives which had been elected just eight months previously. Gillard would later note dryly in her memoirs that she “learnt many things from Paul, such as the importance of timing and choosing your opportunities carefully”.
With Keating defeated and sulking in his half-hearted exile, Gillard was elected by caucus to the front bench and made a swift rise to the heart of Labor Party machinations. She was an effective debater in parliament and was soon promoted by Kim Beazley to the role of Foreign Affairs spokesperson. There she argued passionately for Tony Abbott to commit troops to Afghanistan in the wake of September 11, which earned her the sobriquet “Gunner Gillard”. The hung parliament that resulted in the 2001 election demonstrated that perhaps more than a small number of Australians were in agreement with her point of view.
The 2001-2004 parliament was turbulent for a number of reasons. One was due to Tony Abbott’s reliance on the three country independents and the Greens in order to have a majority on the floor of the house. The second was due to leadership instability on the side of Labor. Kim Beazley resigned as leader early in 2003 on doctors’ orders, and the shadow treasurer Mark Latham was favoured to fill the role. Latham made no secret of that fact that he detested Abbott and would seek a vote of no-confidence at the earliest possible opportunity. Such a move would potentially allow the Coalition to prorogue the parliament, or even fight and win an election on the issue of obstructionism. Gillard was persuaded by many senior Labor figures past and present to confront Latham in the party room. Gillard won by a single vote and took over the leadership. Latham was not included in her shadow cabinet.
While Gillard won few fans within Labor with her seemingly blatant desire to not topple the Abbott government, her supporters understood that she was playing the long game; present a formidable and united opposition, and the government will fall over by itself. Latham did not appear to get the memo as he continued to snipe and attack Abbott and Gillard simultaneously. Deciding that the best way to deal with a mosquito was to bring out the tanks, Gillard filed a motion to expel Latham from the party at the ALP conference due in early 2004. Latham read the writing on the wall and resigned from the party before a vote could be taken and sat as an independent, ultimately losing his seat in the election that year.
When Abbott attempted to force the House to vote on his selection for Governor-General, Gillard gracefully dodged the issue by saying that Labor would abstain from any vote as it broke precedent. By the end of the process, with Downer withdrawing and O’Shane appointed in place, she was looking more Prime Ministerial than the Prime Minister himself, and she won the 2004 election in a canter.
Gillard’s first major challenge was to respond to the Indian Ocean Tsunami which occurred less than three weeks after she took office. Australia assisted Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India with emergency medical equipment, evacuations of the sick and injured, and pledging aid to rebuild shattered communities. Her star, and that of Australia, rose quickly in the Asia-Pacific region.
The second major decision taken by the government was to commit troops to the War on Terror. It was a decision which briefly put a dent into her popularity, but it was consistent with her rhetoric from 2001. She spent Christmas Day 2005 in Afghanistan, making a surprise visit to the troops. The image of Gillard as a pro-active leader who walked the walk cemented her position.
On September 19 2008 Australia welcomed the world to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, with indigenous dancers, flying marsupials, multicultural murals and oversized bushrangers making for a bewildering and chaotic display. Symbolically, Queen Elizabeth II deferred to the Governor-General, Pat O’Shane, to open the games on behalf of the traditional owners. Sitting alongside them in the royal box, Gillard beamed. And as Cathy Freeman passed the torch to four heretofore unknown Australian teenagers – two of each gender, one indigenous and one daughter of a migrant – were chosen to simultaneously light the cauldron. This powerful image endured in the minds of Australians, who saw in the flicker of the flames their idealised image as a united, powerful, confident nation.
The goodwill and national confidence engendered by the Sydney Olympics bolstered the popularity of the Gillard government to soaring levels. Much of that was replaced by doubt and uncertainty as Australia was hit hard by the Global Financial Crisis and went into recession for the first time since the early years of the Keating government. Gillard called an early double-dissolution election on the issue of Labor’s proposed stimulus plan and found a lukewarm electorate ready to give her government a bit of a beatdown. The election result was in doubt for a week as counting continued in five seats but eventually Gillard had beaten Malcolm Turnbull with a slender majority of four. Critically, Labor could form a credible voting bloc in the Senate in order to pass the necessary reforms.
Recovery had started, but it would be a slow process and Gillard had resolved to not see her overstay her welcome as Keating had years before. At a dinner party in Parliament House to commemorate her fiftieth birthday - deliberately austere so as to not upset the sensitivities of those doing it tough in the recession - the Prime Minister announced to a stunned room of guests that she would be retiring within the week.
Gillard’s abilities would not be lost to public life, as early in 2012 she accepted an offer to become the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The Incumbent
Since October 4 2011
Kevin Michael Rudd (b. 1957) is the current Prime Minister of Australia. He was appointed to that position upon the retirement of Julia Gillard in 2011 and won a snap election held later that year with a slightly increased majority, due in small part to the popular campaign meme “Kevin ‘11”.
A professional diplomat, Rudd was stationed in Stockholm and Beijing in the early 1980s before becoming the Chief of Staff to the Queensland premier. From there, a career in federal politics beckoned. Rudd was finally successful in being elected to the House of Representatives in 1997. He quickly identified himself as a Gillardite, and was a critical lieutenant in organising her successful leadership challenge against Mark Latham in 2003. He was rewarded for his hard work with the Foreign Affairs role, which he held until 2009, when he became Federal Treasurer in the midst of the Global Financial Crisis.
Rudd was entrusted by Gillard with the responsibility to implement the financial package that she had narrowly won re-election on in 2009. He impressed colleagues both in his party and in the cross benches with his measured, and consultative leadership style. He in turn trusted his junior ministers below him, and delegated much of the detail of the financial rescue package to them. No doubt his diplomatic background had advantages.
When Gillard announced her retirement in 2011, Rudd was not so much elected as anointed. He immediately announced a snap election, saying that the authority to govern came not from the party but from the people. Despite the best efforts of Malcolm Turnbull to lead the Liberals back into office, Rudd won a majority of nine seats.
Rudd’s leadership style – to delegate most menial tasks to those junior to him, and concentrate only on the big picture – may have been suitable for his work in the Treasury, but let him down during his first term in office. Two ministers were forced to resign after it was revealed they broke the ministerial code of conduct, while another resigned completely from the parliament after he admitted to using union credit cards to pay for escorts. Rudd’s “deer in the headlights” act at the revelation of each indiscretion, although genuine, was inexcusable for a Prime Minister, and his personal ratings took a dive as a result.
Rudd is currently campaigning for a second term in office, with the 2014 Federal Election to be held on Saturday November 29.
Brilliant. I especially loved Gough the ineffectual and Howe the faceless man. I wonder who's Rudd's opponent in 2014 is. 
DTanza
Banned
All done in 24 hours and 29 minutes! Now that's a true TLIAD!
I call that 29 minutes late and an utter failure.
Thank you everyone for the kind comments. Despite being a member here for over four years, I've rarely done more than lurk and drop the occasional comment here and there.
Once I had shuffled the deck, the TL more or less wrote itself.
Positioning McMahon as the Australian equivalent of Pierre Trudeau was rather discombobulating. Unfortunately for Bill, he was the "Holt goes diving" analogy in this world.
I found I had the most fun writing Fraser's biography, and intertwining the various aspects of 1975 into his backstory, making him the unintentional hero rather than the villain. Fraser is largely the same person ITTL, but is also a hybrid of every significant Country Party figure excluding Joh.
Holt got a much nicer retirement out of necessity, even if his rise to power was a bit iffy. I didn't consider that Fraser - 38 at the time - would have the gravitas to veto a potential leader in the same way that McEwen was able to IOTL.
It was hard making Gough essentially a "do-nothing" leader, although his conservatism may have also lengthened his time in office, compared to OTL.
Hawke is essentially the opposite persona to the character in this timeline.
Gorton essentially became an amalgamation of Whitlam, Hawke and Fraser, with a tiny bit of Ronald Reagan thrown in too (they were the same age).
Howard being the anti-American, friend of the migrants and indigenous was slightly silly, as pointed out, but suited the narrative and launched him into a successful post-PM career.
By the time I had written his biography, Keating was the closest to Menzies out of all of the PMs, largely from the perception that his was a time when nothing much happened. His twelve years at the Lodge also conveniently bridged the gap between Howard and Abbott.
Keating pulling the plug on Sydney 2000 was a nice little diversion, I think, and set up Abbott and Gillard nicely.
I wanted to give Abbott all of the problems that Gillard had, but noticed that he would have been a contemporary of Tony Blair, so went down that path as well. I also wanted to position Abbott as pro-environment, setting up an alliance between the Coalition and the Greens. (In this timeline, the Democrats never come to the fore, which I foreshadowed with Don Chipp becoming GG)
Gillard did have a fairly good run, as pointed out. Kevin '11 is hardly my own creation, given it was essentially a rip off of Kevin '07!
Rudd in this timeline has none of the micro-managerial psychosis that cost him his job in the real world.
As for who Rudd is facing in this timeline's 2014 election? Well, I deliberately left that open...there is one former PM still in parliament...
Thanks again.
Once I had shuffled the deck, the TL more or less wrote itself.
Positioning McMahon as the Australian equivalent of Pierre Trudeau was rather discombobulating. Unfortunately for Bill, he was the "Holt goes diving" analogy in this world.
I found I had the most fun writing Fraser's biography, and intertwining the various aspects of 1975 into his backstory, making him the unintentional hero rather than the villain. Fraser is largely the same person ITTL, but is also a hybrid of every significant Country Party figure excluding Joh.
Holt got a much nicer retirement out of necessity, even if his rise to power was a bit iffy. I didn't consider that Fraser - 38 at the time - would have the gravitas to veto a potential leader in the same way that McEwen was able to IOTL.
It was hard making Gough essentially a "do-nothing" leader, although his conservatism may have also lengthened his time in office, compared to OTL.
Hawke is essentially the opposite persona to the character in this timeline.
Gorton essentially became an amalgamation of Whitlam, Hawke and Fraser, with a tiny bit of Ronald Reagan thrown in too (they were the same age).
Howard being the anti-American, friend of the migrants and indigenous was slightly silly, as pointed out, but suited the narrative and launched him into a successful post-PM career.
By the time I had written his biography, Keating was the closest to Menzies out of all of the PMs, largely from the perception that his was a time when nothing much happened. His twelve years at the Lodge also conveniently bridged the gap between Howard and Abbott.
Keating pulling the plug on Sydney 2000 was a nice little diversion, I think, and set up Abbott and Gillard nicely.
I wanted to give Abbott all of the problems that Gillard had, but noticed that he would have been a contemporary of Tony Blair, so went down that path as well. I also wanted to position Abbott as pro-environment, setting up an alliance between the Coalition and the Greens. (In this timeline, the Democrats never come to the fore, which I foreshadowed with Don Chipp becoming GG)
Gillard did have a fairly good run, as pointed out. Kevin '11 is hardly my own creation, given it was essentially a rip off of Kevin '07!
Rudd in this timeline has none of the micro-managerial psychosis that cost him his job in the real world.
As for who Rudd is facing in this timeline's 2014 election? Well, I deliberately left that open...there is one former PM still in parliament...
Thanks again.