After spending the best part of the last six months criticising and ridiculing PM Gillard, I've finally gained some respect for her. And how did this occur? Well bizarrely it involved the cynical and deliberate tactic of rejecting a carbon tax on the eve of the election, knowing full well that's exactly what you're going to introduce straight afterwards.
Now while a broken promise (on such a game changing issue) is nothing to be proud of, at least we're now having a proper old fashioned political debate about an issue of immense importance. While the complex issue of climate change (and what to do about it) can be argued elsewhere, what really impressed me was that Gillard threw away the focus groups results playbook and decided for the first time to act like a leader, ie leading from the front and arguing a case of why we need this carbon tax. A leader must lead from the front while facing down their opponent's scares.
The script is pretty easy to follow, whether it's a GST or a carbon tax, the Opposition will argue that the sky will fall in if it's introduced, while the Government must be able to stare down the hysteria and tell us why this policy is for the greater good etc.
So despite all the mouth frothing and analysis thus far over who's winning and who's losing, for me this "courageous decision" has not only put the Government back in the game, it's given them a raison d'etre which they've so sorely lacked since the election.
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