SO, WHO IS KEVIN?

On Saturday you will either re-elect John Howard to a record fifth term in office and by default also elect Peter Costello as the next Prime Minister after him.

Or you will end the Liberals marathon occupancy of the Government benches and elected Kevin Rudd and his Labor Party to end the federal drought which started with the rout of Paul Keating by John Howard in 1996.

That will give Australia Labor Governments in Canberra, every state and every territory for the first time in our history.

At the weekend I had dinner with somebody who has known our next Prime Minister ‘I’m Kevin. I’m from Queensland’ since his first foray into politics as Wayne Goss’s Chief of Staff when they tried to clean the place up after the corrupt decades of Jackpot Joh and his fellow criminals like Russ Hinze and Police Chief Terry Lewis.

It was a fascinating dinner because although Rudd has been Opposition leader for almost a year and we are coming to the end of a six-week campaign we don’t really know him.

One of Rudd’s qualities – which hasn’t really come through – I was told is that he genuinely has a good heart. He earned the nickname Dr Death in Queensland because Goss told him to put the axe through a bloated lazy Public Service. He did. He will not kowtow to the unions.

He knows what it’s like to taste defeat about standing for Griffiths and losing. He doesn’t like the taste and would not have stood this time unless he really thought he could beat Howard.

Other quick impressions from my dinner partner: Maybe the wrong Rudd is running. Therese Rein is a great person. Despite the rumours and the e-mails Rudd’s grandmother is not Chinese. If you thought Howard and Costello didn’t like each other try Rudd and Swan. And Rudd’s greatest weapon in the campaign? A re-run of Gough’s It’s Time. The perception that no matter what carrots John Howard throws at the punters they just want a change.

So will that happen?  Don’t rely on the Sunday newspaper Page One headlines for a clue. The Sunday Age says ‘ Calamity John –Howard Faces Massive Defeat’. But the Sunday Telegraph says on Page One ‘ Rudd Will Win – Just’.

The Sunday Herald Sun has a cute intro to its editorial. It says ‘It IS time. Not to change governments but to resist temptation.’ It argues that Kevin Rudd has made a case for being taken seriously but NOT for changing the Government.

But, as I have said ad nauseam. Voters throw governments out. They don’t throw governments in. And after the Howard marathon maybe that caller was spot on last week when he said he was voting for change. Just for a change.

Monday, November 19, 2007

©Copyright Derryn Hinch 2007