IT is British prime minister Harold Wilson who is said to have noted that “a week is a long time in politics”.
2010
Gillard replaces Rudd
Throughout 2010, Australia’s federal politics proved Wilson right — week after week.
The promise of what The Australian had predicted in 2007 might be a Rudd era had long since evaporated and the government’s much trumpeted measures to stimulate the economy in the wake of the global financial crisis were unravelling.
Building the Education Revolution and the Home Insulation Program — the so-called pink batts scheme — were beset by serious problems.
Each was costing billions, but they now had the look of poorly designed projects cobbled together in haste and negligently administered. Four young men had died while installing the batts, while there appeared to be rorting of the BER; certainly some schools paid spectacular prices for modest buildings.
Pink batts
Environment minister Peter Garrett admitted in February that his scheme was linked to at least 86 house fires and safety checks had been ordered amid fears that perhaps 1000 roofs had been electrified by shoddy contractors. There were calls for Garrett to resign.
Garrett must have wished his band Midnight Oil had never recorded the song Beds are Burning; headline writers had a field day referring to it.
He must have wished his band Midnight Oil had never recorded the song Beds are Burning; headline writers had a field day referring to it.
The Australian joined in on February 16 with a front-page headline, “Garrett goes bush as batts keep burning”, beneath which was a report damning the minister: “Nero fiddled while Rome burned, and yesterday there was the unmistakable sound of violins as industry experts converged on Canberra to warn there could be more fires and deaths in the roof insulation debacle engulfing the federal government.”
Absent was Garrett, who had “hightailed” it to NSW’s mid-north coast to launch a nature survey.
That was not the only bad news for the government: that day’s lead story, based on the latest Newspoll, showed Kevin Rudd’s personal voter appeal sinking to its lowest level since he became prime minister.
Rudd’s defeat
In the end, Rudd did not even contest the ballot.
Asylum-seekers
The following month The Australian revealed that increasing numbers of asylum-seekers were being transferred to various sites across the country as the pressure of mounting arrivals stretched facilities on Christmas Island to breaking point.
In days, the newspaper stated, the toll of boats to turn up since Labor won government would hit 100.
Weeks later things turned sour again as deputy prime minister Julia Gillard bowed to pressure, calling a $14 million inquiry into the schools building mess.
The following week the government scrapped the pink batts scheme and it was reported that safety inspections of 200,000 homes may be necessary, costing up to $1 billion. That same day it dumped an election promise to build 260 childcare centres.
Mining tax
Rudd’s flexible ideology and arrogance betrayed him. While he craved power, he never appeared to know what he wanted to do with it.
Nine days later came a bombshell. In response to the Henry tax review, Rudd and his treasurer, Wayne Swan, announced the mining super profits tax, designed to give Australians a bigger share of the mining boom. It drew a predictable but fierce attack from the miners, who saw $7bn wiped off their stockmarket value.
Three days later, The Australian, which, unlike others, had not instantly dismissed the “risky, but brave” tax, published a landmark editorial headlined “A prime minister in search of an agenda”. Rather than calmly convince the nation of the need for the new tax, “Rudd fluffed his lines, showed little grasp of the detail of his scheme and invoked class warfare by dumping all over foreign ownership to justify the tax”. It added: “Kevin as economic saviour is beginning to wear thin.”
And not just with The Australian. Labor’s factional heavyweights were losing faith in their boss and considering the unthinkable: replacing a first-term leader. It came to a head the following month.
Gillard’s leadership challenge
Encouraged by despairing colleagues, Gillard announced she would challenge for the leadership to become Australia’s first female prime minister.
In the end, Rudd did not even contest the ballot.
The Australian’s editorial the following day was robust in its assessment of the fallen leader: “Rudd’s flexible ideology and arrogance betrayed him. While he craved power, he never appeared to know what he wanted to do with it, as if he lacked a guiding policy compass.”
Relive the day of drama5:32
The political landscape alters as Julia Gillard knifes Kevin Rudd and embraces her role as Australia's first female Prime Minister in 2010.
The Australian’s editor-in-chief, Chris Mitchell, had warned Rudd about the damage the proposed tax was doing.
“Dennis Shanahan and I went in May 2010 to Kirribilli House and had a couple of hours with Rudd and I warned Rudd about the mining tax,” recalls Mitchell. “Dennis splashed 18 days in a row on the mining tax, (an issue) basically ignored by other newspapers.”
Mitchell knew there were already moves to dump Rudd “but Rudd wanted to talk about North Korea”.
Federal election
Labor was about to go to its fourth election with its fourth leader, while the Liberals had changed leader three times during that term.
After making concessions to the miners, Gillard called the election for August 21.
The Australian urged a vote for Tony Abbott on the grounds that he was “best qualified to cut big government down to size”, but noted that we would still be well served by Gillard. After an ambiguous poll verdict and a “high-risk” embrace of the Greens, it was Gillard who won over the independents. But The Australian remained unconvinced. Paul Kelly wrote that the price of this victory “will be weak and uncertain government under a strange political beast: a Labor-Green-independent rainbow alliance”.
Our first saint
In October, more than 8000 proud Australian pilgrims let out irreverent cheers in the normally solemn St Peter’s Square as Pope Benedict recognised Melbourne-born Mary MacKillop as Australia’s first saint.
In Penola, South Australia, where the founder of the Sisters of St Joseph had started a school in a converted stable, The Australian’s Helen Trinca reported that “they raised the papal flag, they played jazz on their front verandas, they rode their horses through the streets, they savoured the sauvignon blanc and, finally, they stood on the damp school oval to praise God and the woman who put Penola on the map”.
Joan Sutherland dies
We farewelled La Stupenda that same month: Australia’s greatest opera singer, Joan Sutherland, died in Switzerland, having never fully recovered from breaking both legs in a fall two years earlier.
Her final eight performances had been at the Sydney Opera House 20 years earlier, the last show being broadcast by ABC radio and television. Afterwards, ankle-deep in the thousands of flowers and following prolonged and thunderous applause, she sang one final song — Home, Sweet Home.
Jessica Watson
And we welcomed home an extraordinary young Australian a day before her 17th birthday. Brisbane’s Jessica Watson entered Sydney Harbour after circumnavigating the globe in seven months in a 10.4m sloop, having sailed at a younger age, and for longer, than anyone before her — and completely unassisted.
Many were critical of allowing the youngster to take such risks. The Australian believed that while it was not something most of us would have the drive, interest and courage to attempt, the crowds that gathered around Sydney Harbour to see Jessica return “were an indication of how far her enterprising spirit and mindset will resonate in diverse spheres of our national life”.
“Hopefully it will encourage others with big ideas to be self-starters and take reasonable risks to realise their dreams, which is the way nations are built and flourish.”
Christmas tragedy
Forty-eight people die, 42 are rescued when an asylum-seeker boat smashes into cliffs on Christmas Island – just a week before Christmas.
Adieu to La Stupenda
Dame Joan Sutherland, the greatest opera singer Australia has produced, dies on October 10 in Switzerland, aged 83. The common refrain from the opera world: “We won’t see her like again.” She had given her final performance at the Sydney Opera House in Les Huguenots in 1990, ending with a rendition of Home Sweet Home.
Hail a saint
Irreverent Aussie cheers echo around St Peter’s Square as the Pope recognises Mary MacKillop as our first saint. Pilgrims yell, applaud and weep as the new name Saint Mary of the Cross is bestowed on the Melbourne-born teacher and founder of the Sisters of Saint Joseph.
Are you game?
Things aren’t looking too choice just before the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, especially when pictures emerge of unfinished venues and unwelcoming conditions in the athletes’ village. The prime minister Manmoham Singh intervenes and, as with a lot of things in life, it all turns out all right on the night.
First on iPad
The Apple iPad goes on sale in Australia on May 28 2010 and The Australian is the first newspaper in the country to launch an iPad digital edition. The first and, with constant improvements and a commitment to the masthead’s core values, the best.
The journey begins...
CONCEIVED as a newspaper ‘of intelligence, of broad outlook’, the national daily was born into a revolution.
Come the revolution
AS BABY boomers came of age, the Menzies government made a fateful error that galvanised youthful dissent.
The road to innovation
NEW technology helped the Canberra-based national daily overcome some major challenges.
The road to recovery
IN A turbulent year, the national newspaper’s relocation to Sydney brought immediate results.
Year of wonder and despair
A HEAD-SPINNING series of events changed our lives forever – and sent correspondents on a magic carpet ride.
The greatest show on Earth
ARGUABLY the biggest story of last century, the moon landing also marked the beginning of a new era for print journalism.
Turning up the heat
AS THE cry for social reform grew louder The Australian developed its own strong voice.
Leadership ping-pong
AS ITS cartoonists and writers lampooned PM John Gorton and his successor William McMahon, The Australian’s editor found himself in a difficult position.
Time for a change
LABOR’S campaign jingle reflected a true seismic shift in public opinion, and Rupert Murdoch heard the call.
All the world’s a stage
THE arts enjoyed a renaissance in both the nation and The Australian, which boasted an A-team of journalists.
Spinning out of control
THE Australian supported Whitlam’s Labor, but signs were emerging the government was losing its grip.
On a slippery path to the cliff
THE Australian nailed its colours to the mast in 1975.
Post-Dismissal blues
THE Australian bled in 1976 amid accusations of bias, but there was plenty to report at home and abroad.
A tyro makes his mark
WHEN The Australian celebrates its 50th anniversary at a function next month, the guest of honour will be Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Heeding the front page
IN his third year as editor, Les Hollings’s campaign influenced the Fraser government’s tax policies.
Bye to a decade of tumult
BY 1979 Australia’s great post-war decade of change was coming to a close.
Rationalism takes hold
THE world began a new era of reform in 1980.
Shots ring out from afar
INTERNATIONAL assassination attempts and royal nuptials grabbed the headlines while Australia waited for reforms.
A near-death experience
DISAGREEMENTS between management and staff almost killed off the paper then edited by Larry Lamb.
Afloat in a sea of change
DECISIONS made in 1983 put the nation on the road to globalisation, rebuilt its economic foundations and redefined the way we lived and worked.
Power to the individual
GLOBAL trends turned out to be rather different from those envisaged in Orwell’s dystopian novel.
Older, wiser, and no longer out of pocket
THE Australian was in black for the first time as it turned 21, and a period of prosperity lay ahead.
Farewell to Fleet Street
KEN Cowley was a key strategist in the landmark relocation of Rupert Murdoch’s London operations to Wapping.
Joh aims high, falls low
THE market crashed amid political upheaval.
Bicentennial and beyond
IT WAS a time for fun but also introspection.
A new epoch takes shape
SOVIET communism became a thing of the past as the decade ended.
Hold the front page ...
WOMEN take the reins of power in two states and political prisoner Nelson Mandela walks free.
The Kirribilli showdown
BOB Hawke and Paul Keating jostled for power, while Iraq’s Saddam Hussein invited the wrath of the world.
The landscape diversifies
EDDIE Mabo took the fight for Aboriginal land rights to the High Court and won.
No cakewalk for Hewson
JOHN Hewson flubs his chances in the ‘unlosable’ election, but Shane Warne doesn’t miss any in the Ashes.
Death of a campaigner
JOHN Newman’s assassination rang a bell, and Henry Kissinger pulled no punches in his Nixon obituary.
An end and a beginning
AS the last of the political old guard passed on, the Liberals prepared for a return to power after 12 years.
Rebirth in deadly times
THE Port Arthur massacre prompted new prime minister John Howard to launch a crackdown on guns.
Bougainville showdown
THERE were mercenaries in PNG, a sex scandal in parliament, and the accidental death of a princess in Paris.
Status quo under threat
WHILE we debated monarchism, industrial relations and the GST, unrest in Indonesia spurred Suharto’s exit.
The republic can wait
AUSTRALIANS didn’t want a president they couldn’t vote for, while Y2K loomed as an impending catastrophe.
Sorry before the Games
RECONCILIATION got short shrift from a scandalised PM but the Sydney Olympics lifted everyone’s mood.
World struck by tragedy
GEORGE W. Bush took over, Osama bin Laden unleashed terror, and the Don proved to be mortal after all.
Blood and tears in Bali
ISLAMIST terror left a deep scar in Australia’s neighbourhood, and we bade farewell to the Queen Mother.
Where there is smoke…
THE year began with the federal capital in flames, then the war on Iraq began. And a governor-general quit.
Playing their last innings
STEVE Waugh retired, David Hookes died and Mark Latham exposed his wickets in the year of the tsunami.
Not what they seemed
TONY Abbott almost found a son, the ALP lost another leader, and an old foe gave Sir Joh a state funeral.
He shall not be moved
THE AWB scandal and Peter Costello’s dummy-spit leave John Howard standing, but Kim Beazley bows out.
Scene set for a knockout
KEVIN07 proved too hot for John Howard, and a ‘terror suspect’ turned out to be just a doctor on a 457 visa.
Balm for a nation’s soul
THERE was practical and symbolic progress on the indigenous front in the year we lost Hillary and Utzon.
Shock, horror, disbelief
TWO searing tragedies marked the start of the year; by the end of it, Tony Abbott headed the shadow cabinet.
Suddenly, Julia steps in
KEVIN Rudd’s demise at his deputy’s hands was brutal and swift, but it was preceded by a string of Labor woes.
The nastiest deluge of all
NATURE and the Wivenhoe Dam were exceptionally unkind to Queensland the year we hosted Barack Obama.
It’s the whole dam truth
QUEENSLAND’S political landscape is transformed, and we farewell two doughty Australian women.
Clash course in politics
THREE PMs starred in our longest election year.
The next half century beckons
WHATEVER the future of curated news, The Australian is determined to build on its achievements.
