Word: laboral
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During the summer it's been surprising how much regular Australians have been talking about politics. And how quickly new Labor leader Kevin Rudd has become a fixture in that conversation. Rudd, 49, has insinuated himself into the familiar backdrop of holidays?cricket, barbecues and bushfires?without, it seems, getting up people's noses. Few days pass without the hyperactive Queenslander making his earnest contribution, on radio or TV, to the issue of the moment. It's said that Rudd also took a short break. Even workaholics need a few days to shoot TV ads, strategize and catch...
Rudd's team is a little fresher than Beazley's. But Labor's message is essentially the same: Howard's government is tired, it has lost touch with Middle Australia, its changes to workplace relations are extreme, it has neglected the environment, and the country's future wealth will be at risk when the resources boom ends. Somehow, with a mix of clich?s ("Australia has reached a fork in the road") and slogans ("China's quarry and Japan's beach"), Rudd has managed to "cut through"?the dream of political word wranglers. Inevitably, Rudd's success so far has elicited...
...sprint in this year's half-marathon to the Lodge, Rudd declared on Jan. 23 during a speech at Melbourne University that the Australian economy needs an "education revolution." He issued a discussion paper that placed education at the center of the country's long-term economic future and Labor's historical devotion to fairness: "If the 19th century was driven by an industrial revolution, and the 20th century by a technological revolution, what is needed for the 21st century is an education revolution." Rudd pointed to a slide in workers' productivity. A decade ago, Australians' output...
While education policy is traditionally a strong suit for Labor, the Howard government is particularly vulnerable to claims that it has neglected this area. Australia ranks low among rich countries on spending for early childhood education, scientific research and development, and vocational skills. The government's top economic bureaucrats have consistently warned of the need to boost productivity and invest in education and skills so as to reduce the future financial burden on younger workers as the boomer generation retires. In the popular mind, Howard's government, which has delivered good economic results for a decade, does not rate highly...
...education is Labor's agenda, Rudd is the right salesman. His first TV commercial is a highlights reel for someone who could have starred in Australia's Brainiest Kid or It's Academic: from bush school to the Australian National University ? and beyond! Learning is at the "kitchen table" of middle Australian families, to quote the vanquished Beazley; the self-employed and middle-income parents who obsess about education and private-school fees and have lately voted for Howard will take a very close look at Rudd's education policies in the coming months. Of course, if Labor does...