Amidst Bernie Banton and the gloriously witty Matt Price passing away; and Mark Vaile and Clare Martin quitting politics, I’ve been rather too stunned to post. But feel free to discuss them in comments – or speculate on whether Glyn Davis will see the Melbourne model through or run the federal bureaucracy; whether Peter Garrett’s gaffe will see him appointed Minister for Veterans’ Affairs; and what school principals will tell the MPs who come to visit them this week.
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Glyn Davis has already ruled out leaving before his contract expires in early 2010.
I’m really pleased to hear that. Few people would do as good a job as PM&C secretary as him, but I don’t know anyone who could carry on what he’s doing at Melbourne.
Will there be a role for Robert Manne?
Oh, I think Rudd will be happy to leave Peter Shergold where he is – unlike his predecessor Shergold is a professional public servant rather than a partisan bully boy, and is very competent to boot. He’s the type whose ambition makes him faithful to whoever currently has power. A couple of other Departmental Secretaries will lose their jobs in the upcoming reshuffle of departments, though.
Rudd won’t humiliate Peter Garrett – a dummy-spitting resignation would not be a good look at this stage, and after all Garrett has been remarkably patient in swallowing the numerous shit sandwiches that have been forced down his throat to date. Better to keep him quiet through Cabinet solidarity (he’s shown sufficient appetite for such sandwiches) and keep the left wing of the party happy. Rudd’ll keep him busy on the post-Kyoto negotiations.
You’re stunned by “Mark Vaile and Clare Martin quitting politics”? I’m kind of stunned by that news too, but in a good way. Clare Martin should have gone a long time ago – the events leading up the NT intervention were disgraceful. As for Vaile, I’m just sorry the rest of his party aren’t going too.
It will be interesting to see how long Barbara Bennett lasts at the Workplace Authority.
It was weird that Mark Vaile called for generational change though. He wasn’t leader for particularly long, and was a backbencher himself at the beginning of the Howard government, if memory serves. And he is also quite young. The generational change may well involve him being replaced by someone older than he is. I think it was the wrong political cliche for the job.